Best Laid Schemes

A Bit of Bellis Beekeeping

From Cyrell's Journal

13

APR/12

Maeron continued his experiments, and eventually re-opened the portal to its original location beside the bridge. I hurried through when he said it was safe, and took in the scene. The bees had now converged into one huge swarm that was only being held off by a handful of mages creating a fire wall to try to corral it. The Prince and Princess were out of sight, but I soon learned they had been escorted to a safe place in the Chapel and were out of harm’s way. I did not see Heath or Zandril or any of the party members yet, so I began trying to get wedding-goers back to the portal and find my way to the Princess.

I saw the swarm diverge and split into four separate swarms, and took stock of my surroundings once again. Most of the crowd had either made their way into the portal, Chapel, tent, or pavilion, or otherwise had scattered into the woods. Just up the path from me were the three Stormhawks, who confirmed the safety of the Prince and Princess and were trying to figure out a way to fight the bees. The group of mages had been pushed over to the Chapel steps and were being assaulted by one of the swarms. A second swarm was in a frenzy attacking someone over near the rose garden. The third was beyond the Stormhawks, and the fourth was between the tent and me. I didn’t know many songs to control bees, and so I pulled out my new spear and went to work. Keeping my distance, I began slashing and thrusting at the swarm with the spear, unleashing as many electrifying attacks as I could manage and trying to keep the swarm moving away from the center of the Wedding Grounds.

As I looked around to check how the Stormhawks were handling their swarm, I saw that the one by the rose garden was fighting Drakon and I even managed to catch a glimpse of him shapeshift into a wolf as I ducked past several bees. His subsequent howl apparently opened my ears to hear past the buzzing, as the next thing I noticed was Heath yelling, “Get to the water!!!” and in trying to process this thought, several bees managed to hit me. They were, however, turned away by my armor and hair, which I counted as a lucky stroke and a reminder to focus on the task at hand. My next attack sent the swarm into a fury and I heard the voice of Tenzikel booming in the distance, shrieking about his beauties, his bees.

My swarm merged with the Stormhawks’ swarm and began making its way into the tent. The bees were tearing through the Stormhawks, but I was still on the offensive, pushing them through the flaps of the tent. Just then, I noticed I was fighting alongside Drakon and despite the Stormhawks withdrawing, we were beginning to really crush the bees. I attacked over his back, missing several thrusts but continuing to stand my ground. I got stung a couple times and had to pull back for a moment. Just then, I saw a Stormhawk covering himself with sweet wines, syrups, fruits, candies, anything he could find, and heard him say to clear away from the tent. He actually intended to sacrifice himself to set the tent on fire and burn all the bees. Luckily, we dispersed the last of them before he could do that, but just at that moment we had bigger problems. Much bigger problems.

Out of the ground between the Chapel and the Rose Garden burrowed three gigantic Carbuncles, each being ridden by pale gnomish creatures resembling Tenzikel. Another burst from behind the Chapel, holding the Prince of Hearts on its back and trying to follow the others who immediately set to fleeing. We had to stop the one with the Prince, at the price of allowing the bleached gnomes to escape. Drakon and I stepped in its way, and began attacking it. Mae Ri Ahh exited the Chapel, somewhere between grief-stricken and infuriated, and joined us in trying to keep the Carbuncle from running. She made the flower beds grow up out of the ground and entangle the Carbuncle. With a terrible strain and a burst of power, she constricted the vines and flowers around its golden legs and tore them outward away from its body. Drakon and I finished the job, and a huge ruby dropped at our feet, but not before the Stormhawks had come shrieking in, having shifted into their hawk form, and had grabbed the Prince’s body to carry it behind the Chapel.